Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

Post by storewanderer »

jamcool wrote: January 11th, 2023, 7:49 pm Culver’s has a pretty tight reign on their franchisers, especially how many stores they can operate.
Whatever that tight reign of Culver's is, the one in Castle Rock, CO a few months ago was a complete joke. It operated very limited hours, drive through only, and had little business. The Freddy's nearby was fully open and even open late, dirtiest Freddy's I've ever seen, but food and service were okay. I much prefer Freddy's.
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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

Post by Brian Lutz »

I went to the Steak and Shake in Downtown Seattle (one of the limited menu ones) a couple of times while it was around, got the impression of an OK but not particularly spectacular restaurant. They did OK for a while based on the novelty of being the only Steak 'n Shake in Washington, but that dried up pretty quickly. It it wasn't done in by COVID it was probably done in by the George Floyd riots which wrecked a lot of Downtown Seattle (Google Street View shows the restaurant being open in 2019, I think it originally opened around 2016.) I don't think Steak 'n Shake ever tried to break into the market here in Utah, and if they did it's likely they wouldn't last long.. there's just way too much competition in that space for a marginal operator like that to make much of an impact, and In-N-Out, Culver's and Freddy's all seem to be pretty well established by now, not to mention all the local "Greek Burger" places like Crown Burgers, Apollo Burgers, Astro Burgers and a lot of smaller ones.

It appears the building that the Steak and Shake occupied in Downtown Seattle is being targeted for redevelopment, as even though the TJMaxx store in that building reports as "temporarily closed" on Google Maps, only one business (a small restaurant) remains in the building, and every other street level window and store entrance is boarded up. Even the Wild Ginger restaurant and Triple Door Theater in the building next door have a number of boarded up windows, some with shards of broken glass hanging off the edges. Roaming around the neighborhood shows that boarded up windows seem to be a common sight there now, and I suspect that even if the perpetrators were caught they would be released without charges. That part of Downtown (near the Pike Place Market and Westlake Park) has always been a problem area, but the lack of effective law enforcement and the COVID-fueled exodus of office workers has really sent the place even further downhill over the past couple of years, and I suspect the loss of the Macy's store and Amazon's shifting a large portion of their tech hiring toward Bellevue isn't helping matters any.
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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

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Brian Lutz wrote: January 11th, 2023, 8:41 pm I went to the Steak and Shake in Downtown Seattle (one of the limited menu ones) a couple of times while it was around, got the impression of an OK but not particularly spectacular restaurant. They did OK for a while based on the novelty of being the only Steak 'n Shake in Washington, but that dried up pretty quickly. It it wasn't done in by COVID it was probably done in by the George Floyd riots which wrecked a lot of Downtown Seattle (Google Street View shows the restaurant being open in 2019, I think it originally opened around 2016.) I don't think Steak 'n Shake ever tried to break into the market here in Utah, and if they did it's likely they wouldn't last long.. there's just way too much competition in that space for a marginal operator like that to make much of an impact, and In-N-Out, Culver's and Freddy's all seem to be pretty well established by now, not to mention all the local "Greek Burger" places like Crown Burgers, Apollo Burgers, Astro Burgers and a lot of smaller ones.

It appears the building that the Steak and Shake occupied in Downtown Seattle is being targeted for redevelopment, as even though the TJMaxx store in that building reports as "temporarily closed" on Google Maps, only one business (a small restaurant) remains in the building, and every other street level window and store entrance is boarded up. Even the Wild Ginger restaurant and Triple Door Theater in the building next door have a number of boarded up windows, some with shards of broken glass hanging off the edges. Roaming around the neighborhood shows that boarded up windows seem to be a common sight there now, and I suspect that even if the perpetrators were caught they would be released without charges. That part of Downtown (near the Pike Place Market and Westlake Park) has always been a problem area, but the lack of effective law enforcement and the COVID-fueled exodus of office workers has really sent the place even further downhill over the past couple of years, and I suspect the loss of the Macy's store and Amazon's shifting a large portion of their tech hiring toward Bellevue isn't helping matters any.
I don't quite know what happened but there was a Steak N Shake in Centerville, UT in a Chevron gas station for about 3 years (supposedly closed when the gas station changed ownership- might be run by Jacksons now; store has Extra Mile branding) and a freestanding one got approved in Logan but was never built. I can't tell if Steak N Shake ever had any other locations in Utah. This is the only time I've seen one in a gas station.

That downtown Seattle Steak N Shake was somewhat odd, I remember seeing that there when I was walking around and was a little confused to see it. Dick's tastes similar at a fraction of the cost, this would be a problem. There were supposed to be additional locations by the same franchisee but I don't think any materialized. It appears to have closed in late 2020.

Colorado is down to 1 Steak N Shake in Sheridan (reviews are horrendous and pricing at the location is horrendous - 7.99 for a specialty shake (that is 5.99 in Reno and 4.99 in most other regions). I can't tell if that location is still a corporate location (it was...). I find it hard to believe a corporate location would price like that. There were two others in Denver suburbs also corporate and those closed, and then there was a franchise one in Colorado Springs closed last year after not being able to find employees and finally after operating for a while 10-2 with one employee just shut down.

There was also a single Steak N Shake in Montana but it closed a few years ago. Also a single Arizona location which closed.

Seems like this chain had some success selling franchises in the 2010-2014 period into new territories but the success rate of these locations has not been good. An attempted expansion west that once saw at least one unit hitting each NorCal/Central CA/UT/AZ/MT/WA has resulted in the present with remaining locations of 5 in NV (2 casinos in Las Vegas and one in UNLV included), and 2 in CA.

I still can't quite tell how many units they may have had open at any one time in CA as a max unit count. It appears at some point they may have had about 12 units open in CA at the same time but it would have been very brief. Also the two CA units still open do not have online ordering so I cannot tell what their prices are. Steak N Shake requires the locations to use their corporate cash register system so I am not sure how or why those locations disable online ordering.
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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: January 11th, 2023, 9:42 pm
Brian Lutz wrote: January 11th, 2023, 8:41 pm I went to the Steak and Shake in Downtown Seattle (one of the limited menu ones) a couple of times while it was around, got the impression of an OK but not particularly spectacular restaurant. They did OK for a while based on the novelty of being the only Steak 'n Shake in Washington, but that dried up pretty quickly. It it wasn't done in by COVID it was probably done in by the George Floyd riots which wrecked a lot of Downtown Seattle (Google Street View shows the restaurant being open in 2019, I think it originally opened around 2016.) I don't think Steak 'n Shake ever tried to break into the market here in Utah, and if they did it's likely they wouldn't last long.. there's just way too much competition in that space for a marginal operator like that to make much of an impact, and In-N-Out, Culver's and Freddy's all seem to be pretty well established by now, not to mention all the local "Greek Burger" places like Crown Burgers, Apollo Burgers, Astro Burgers and a lot of smaller ones.

It appears the building that the Steak and Shake occupied in Downtown Seattle is being targeted for redevelopment, as even though the TJMaxx store in that building reports as "temporarily closed" on Google Maps, only one business (a small restaurant) remains in the building, and every other street level window and store entrance is boarded up. Even the Wild Ginger restaurant and Triple Door Theater in the building next door have a number of boarded up windows, some with shards of broken glass hanging off the edges. Roaming around the neighborhood shows that boarded up windows seem to be a common sight there now, and I suspect that even if the perpetrators were caught they would be released without charges. That part of Downtown (near the Pike Place Market and Westlake Park) has always been a problem area, but the lack of effective law enforcement and the COVID-fueled exodus of office workers has really sent the place even further downhill over the past couple of years, and I suspect the loss of the Macy's store and Amazon's shifting a large portion of their tech hiring toward Bellevue isn't helping matters any.
I don't quite know what happened but there was a Steak N Shake in Centerville, UT in a Chevron gas station for about 3 years (supposedly closed when the gas station changed ownership- might be run by Jacksons now; store has Extra Mile branding) and a freestanding one got approved in Logan but was never built. I can't tell if Steak N Shake ever had any other locations in Utah. This is the only time I've seen one in a gas station.

That downtown Seattle Steak N Shake was somewhat odd, I remember seeing that there when I was walking around and was a little confused to see it. Dick's tastes similar at a fraction of the cost, this would be a problem. There were supposed to be additional locations by the same franchisee but I don't think any materialized. It appears to have closed in late 2020.

Colorado is down to 1 Steak N Shake in Sheridan (reviews are horrendous and pricing at the location is horrendous - 7.99 for a specialty shake (that is 5.99 in Reno and 4.99 in most other regions). I can't tell if that location is still a corporate location (it was...). I find it hard to believe a corporate location would price like that. There were two others in Denver suburbs also corporate and those closed, and then there was a franchise one in Colorado Springs closed last year after not being able to find employees and finally after operating for a while 10-2 with one employee just shut down.

There was also a single Steak N Shake in Montana but it closed a few years ago. Also a single Arizona location which closed.

Seems like this chain had some success selling franchises in the 2010-2014 period into new territories but the success rate of these locations has not been good. An attempted expansion west that once saw at least one unit hitting each NorCal/Central CA/UT/AZ/MT/WA has resulted in the present with remaining locations of 5 in NV (2 casinos in Las Vegas and one in UNLV included), and 2 in CA.

I still can't quite tell how many units they may have had open at any one time in CA as a max unit count. It appears at some point they may have had about 12 units open in CA at the same time but it would have been very brief. Also the two CA units still open do not have online ordering so I cannot tell what their prices are. Steak N Shake requires the locations to use their corporate cash register system so I am not sure how or why those locations disable online ordering.
I saw that there is still a location off I-15 in Victorville, CA on the way to Vegas. There is a large cluster of restaurants there as it is a natural place to grab dinner on the way out of town, several other chains less common in CA are there like Freddy's. There was a corporate location for a short time in Aliso Viejo that opened in a former Burger King around 2017. It closed around the start of COVID and was converted to a Wendy's.
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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: January 12th, 2023, 12:58 pm
I saw that there is still a location off I-15 in Victorville, CA on the way to Vegas. There is a large cluster of restaurants there as it is a natural place to grab dinner on the way out of town, several other chains less common in CA are there like Freddy's. There was a corporate location for a short time in Aliso Viejo that opened in a former Burger King around 2017. It closed around the start of COVID and was converted to a Wendy's.
Based on extensive research this is what I have found of the CA locations:

Daly City and Campbell were the same franchisee.
Fresno had a new Del Taco opened next to it run by the same franchisee; both closed at the same time.

Franchise sites, freestanding buildings:
Victorville 2014-still open (has opened and closed multiple times)
Yucca Valley 2017-still open
Daly City 2017-2018
Fresno 2017-2018
Riverside 2016-2020
Aliso Viejo (appears to open as franchise but close as corporate, unclear) 2016-2020

Other sites:
Temecula- 2019-2021- shopping center near Pechanga Casino, operated by Pechanga Tribe, not using corporate system/rewards app
San Jose State University- run by food service contractor there
Compton- 2017-2020 - franchise- in-line site
Campbell- 2017-2018- franchise- in-line site
Burbank (in-line) 2015-2020
Santa Monica (in-line) 2014-2020 (corporate site)
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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

Post by storewanderer »

The real estate listing on that "for sale" North Reno Steak N Shake was updated yesterday to "under contract." So it appears the landlord has found a buyer for the building.

It appears to me the property may have been sold out from under whoever is franchising these Steak N Shake units and the sudden closure of the unit last week was necessary in order to make the property sale go through... this unit was in business for close to 10 years... which is about the longest run of any of the west coast units of Steak N Shake other than the one in South Point Casino in Las Vegas that has run since 2010, which I am sure is 100% safe as long as the current owner owns that casino.

Meanwhile the South Reno Steak N Shake removed the large "drive through only/$12-$16/hr hiring" (inside had been open lately but the sign was still up) sign from its window sometime in the past week and has started playing music inside again. Guess they figure they have one shot to make this work in the area now... hardly any customers going in there. I suspect customer count inside is less than 50 per day, though probably ~200 more per day through drive through. Their patty melt is really excellent; I got one this week that was made correctly; the burger tastes fantastic and the bread is perfectly grilled crisp/cheeses melted; this is an excellent product. However, I can see how preparation carelessness could really screw this product up. The meat tastes noticeably better than typical fast food burger meat tastes.
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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

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Found evidence of some CA/ID locations that never happened:

10003 Alonda Blvd., Bellflower (not clear if this one is still possible or not)- appears it was being renovated and front is painted already/re-done... this appears to be a former KFC that had a unique drive through- unique in that it had the window on the passenger side of the car. What the...?

Another block of locations was taken out by the franchisee who also owns NorCal Cajun who has the Popeyes in Concord and some other assorted holdings, this is the same franchisee who was going to do Habits in Spokane/Idaho but never did, and closed some of the Idaho Popeyes. It appears they may have been trying to replace one Idaho Popeyes with a Steak N Shake. All of these locations were formally canceled in 2021.
These are the locations:
4371 W. Bullard-Fresno, CA - appears they had the land piped and even built a drive through lane but then didn't build a building.
2918 Eight Mile-American Canyon, CA
NW Corner Highway 59 and Santa Fe Drive- Merced, CA - appears this was built as a generic shell and never opened
250 Pole Line Road-Twin Falls, ID- not clear if this is the former Popeyes or near it. The Popeyes is now an Arctic Circle.
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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

Post by storewanderer »

Seems like the fringe territory locations continue to close.

Middletown, DE closed a couple months ago. Wasn't very old, appears to be a former Dairy Queen building
Millersville, MD closed yesterday. Appears this one may have opened and closed in the past and may have been involved in a bankruptcy auction for the real estate, business, and equipment in 2018.

Done correctly this is really an excellent burger- if you like thin burgers. Far better than other fast food burgers. I actually prefer this burger to In N Out when it is made fresh (which seems to be pretty much every time these past couple months since there are usually no other customers there)- the meat tastes better and they fully heat/grill the bun. Also the large pickle slices work well. What I find somewhat odd is if you don't specify what toppings you want on the burger, all you get is ketchup, pickle, and onion. I think this chain needs to do a better job showing customers what the burger topping options are.
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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

Post by bryceleinan »

storewanderer wrote: January 15th, 2023, 5:07 pm Found evidence of some CA/ID locations that never happened:

10003 Alonda Blvd., Bellflower (not clear if this one is still possible or not)- appears it was being renovated and front is painted already/re-done... this appears to be a former KFC that had a unique drive through- unique in that it had the window on the passenger side of the car. What the...?

Another block of locations was taken out by the franchisee who also owns NorCal Cajun who has the Popeyes in Concord and some other assorted holdings, this is the same franchisee who was going to do Habits in Spokane/Idaho but never did, and closed some of the Idaho Popeyes. It appears they may have been trying to replace one Idaho Popeyes with a Steak N Shake. All of these locations were formally canceled in 2021.
These are the locations:
4371 W. Bullard-Fresno, CA - appears they had the land piped and even built a drive through lane but then didn't build a building.
2918 Eight Mile-American Canyon, CA
NW Corner Highway 59 and Santa Fe Drive- Merced, CA - appears this was built as a generic shell and never opened
250 Pole Line Road-Twin Falls, ID- not clear if this is the former Popeyes or near it. The Popeyes is now an Arctic Circle.
250 Pole Line is definitely a former Popeye’s, I noticed that when I was there two years ago… it’s right by the La Quinta I stayed at.
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Re: Steak and Shake closing 57 locations

Post by storewanderer »

Reno Steak N Shake has had a very bad weekend with the drive through only sign posted much of Saturday and all of Sunday and at some point Saturday they ran out of ingredients to make milkshakes, so they have had no milkshakes for most of Saturday and all of Sunday. I really think this place wants to fail.

I suspect they were busier than expected last week so they ran out of milkshake mix. Great way to kill momentum of recovering your business- go to drive through only and let the shakes be out of stock for a weekend.
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